Cherry Red's Cherry Pop arm began its association with Sheena Easton with the 2021 release of The Definitive Singles 1980-1987.  The 3-CD, 51-song collection brought together the Scottish singer's A-sides including both 7- and 12-inch singles during that period.  Since then, Cherry Pop has refreshed much of Easton's discography including expanded editions on CD of Madness, Money, and Music, Take My Time, and A Private Heaven, and the first-time release of Live at the Palace, Hollywood in audio and video formats. Vinyl-only releases have included remastered editions of 1983's Best Kept Secret and 1984's Spanish-language album Todo Me Recuerda a Ti.  Now, Cherry Pop has revisited A Private Heaven once again.  The label has adapted the 2CD expanded edition into a 2LP set with new artwork and pressed it on (most appropriate) red vinyl, premiering three exclusive bonus tracks.

Sheena's original vision for A Private Heaven was edgy and provocative; she'd found inspiration in Olivia Newton-John's Physical album to create an assertive and empowering musical statement that wasn't afraid of pushing the envelope musically as well as lyrically.  Out were the strings and orchestrations, in were slick synthesizers and rock guitars.  This approach was epitomized by the opening track, Charlie Dore and Julian Littman's confident, swaggering, and suggestive "Strut."  Its lyrics - "Strut, pout, put it out/That's what you want from women...Watch me baby, while I walk out the door" - were originally written from a male perspective, but Easton successfully persuaded the songwriters to change it.  The resulting anthem earned her a top ten U.S. Pop and Dance hit and a Grammy nomination.  But "Strut" was downright innocuous compared to "Sugar Walls."  None other than Prince was recording next door.  Writing and co-producing under the pseudonym Alexander Nevermind, he donated the provocative track to Easton ("Come spend the night inside my sugar walls...Take advantage, it's alright").  It had the same sexual directness that characterized much of his own oeuvre, and was quickly tagged as part of the "Filthy Fifteen" by Tipper Gore's crusading Parents Music Resource Center.  Despite the furor over its explicit lyrical content, or perhaps because of it, "Sugar Walls" earned Sheena another top ten Pop hit and crossed over to R&B (No. 3) and Dance (No. 1) on the U.S. Billboard charts. Moreover, it would be just the first of a string of collaborations between Easton and Prince.

Greg Mathieson and his collaborator Trevor Veitch penned the urgent, lightly Asian-flavored "Hungry Eyes" as well as the irresistible and evocative "Back in the City," the latter with guitar hero Lee Ritenour.  Another top-tier guitarist, Steve Lukather, wrote the power ballad "All by Myself" with Veitch and contributed its searing solo.  The full-on rock attack of Tim Scott McConnell's "Swear" was fuelled by a "Beat It"-like riff and striking spoken-word rap sections; it made the lower reaches of the Hot 100.  The album's signature ballad, "Hard to Say It's Over," was authored by singer-songwriter Gino Cunico, lyricist and frequent Barry Manilow collaborator Adrienne Anderson, and multi-instrumentalist Tom Saviano.  Sheena also tackled Joan Armatrading's 1976 hit "Love and Affection" with impressive understatement.  Indeed, one of the most remarkable accomplishments of the album is that Sheena's powerful, versatile voice never gets lost in the sleek, ultra-contemporary production.

A Private Heaven remains Sheena's most successful album in the U.S. to date.  It peaked at No. 15 on the Billboard 200, spending 35 weeks on the chart and going Platinum.  Cherry Pop's 2022 expanded edition on 2 CDs, produced and annotated by Adam Mattera, explored the album in depth with a whopping 21 bonus cuts.  Due to the limitations of vinyl, the new 2-LP presentation drops many of the CD bonuses (most notably the eight instrumental mixes) but retains all three B-sides penned entirely or in part by the Greg Mathieson/Trevor Veitch team ("Letters from the Road," "Straight Talking," and "Fallen Angels"), the Dance Mixes of "Strut" and "Swear," and the Long Version of "Sugar Walls."  The latter track makes its debut here on vinyl.

The CD premiered an album outtake, "Have You Ever Been in Love."  Introduced by co-writer Andy Hill in the duo Gem and later covered by Leo Sayer (to the tune of a No. 10 U.K. hit!), Easton's silky rendition of the attractive, Ivor Novello Award-winning ballad was persuasive but might have been too conventional to fit comfortably on the original LP.  The song is reprised here, but in an alternative version newly mixed from the original multitrack tapes by engineer Ted Carfrae.  He's also recovered a previously unreleased remix of "Hungry Eyes."  Rounding out the bonus material is a previously unissued TV Mix of "Sugar Walls."  Simon Murphy has remastered the album and other bonus tracks from the original tapes; sound is uniformly stellar.  (A Long Version of "Sugar Walls" from the 2CD set makes its first appearance on vinyl here.)

The attractive gatefold package features each of the two red vinyl LPs in a thick, sturdy sleeve with lyrics on one side and a photo of Sheena from the album sessions on the other.  All that's missing is producer Mattera's definitive essay as presented in the CD edition.

Sheena Easton began a new chapter of her storied career with A Private Heaven.  Record labels were anxious to repeat its success; much of the same personnel (Greg Mathieson, Trevor Veitch, Robbie Nevil, Lee Ritenour, Carlos Vega, Jerry Hey, Richard Page, Abraham Laboriel, Michael Landau, Steve George, Tom Kelly) would go on to appear on singer-songwriter Melissa Manchester's similarly cutting-edge 1985 album Mathematics. (Private Heaven alums Tom Saviano and Lenny Castro both played in the 1970s as part of Manchester's band but didn't appear on Mathematics.)  Sheena went on to continue her collaboration with Prince and also work with a host of acclaimed producers such as Nile Rodgers, Phil Ramone, Narada Michael Walden, Nick Martinelli, Keith Diamond, Babyface, and L.A. Reid before the 1980s were out.

The new vinyl expansion of A Private Heaven is out now from Cherry Pop/RT Industries.  Look for it at Amazon U.K. or directly from Cherry Red; it's currently unavailable from the Amazon U.S. store.  (And watch this space for a review of the upcoming 2CD deluxe reissue of Sheena's Do You!) As an Amazon affiliate, we earn from qualifying purchases.

Sheena Easton, A Private Heaven: Deluxe Edition (Cherry Pop CRPOP2LP280, 2024) (Amazon U.S. (Unavailable) / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada / Cherry Red)

LP 1: Original Album (EMI America LP ST-17132, 1984)

Side One

1. Strut
2. Sugar Walls
3. Hungry Eyes
4. Hard to Say It's Over
5. Swear

Side Two

1. Love and Affection
2. Back in the City
3. You Make Me Nervous
4. All by Myself
5. Double Standard

LP 2: The 12" Mixes and B-Sides

Side Three

1. Strut (Dance Mix) (EMI America 12-inch single V-7837-1, 1984)
2. Letters from the Road (B-side of EMI America single B-8227, 1984)
3. Hungry Eyes (Remix) (previously unreleased)
4. Straight Talking (B-side of EMI America single B-8253, 1984)
5. Sugar Walls (TV Mix) (previously unreleased)

Side Four

1. Swear (Dance Mix) (EMI America 12-inch single V-7847-1, 1985)
2. Fallen Angels (B-side of EMI America single B-8263, 1985)
3. Sugar Walls (Long Version) (from A Private Heaven, Cherry Pop CDPOPD243, 2022)
4. Have You Ever Been in Love (Alternative Version) (previously unreleased)​